


Flaws

by Duplix



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, And yes Jamie will be comforting get ready, Angst, Character Death, Dani came out before leaving, Dani is a teacher, Dani is trying to escape her old life and runs into Jamie, Eddie is violent in this one, F/F, Jamie has quite the backstory I haven't figured out yet, not sorry, there will be abuse too get ready
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29811444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duplix/pseuds/Duplix
Summary: It has been a while. Hannah said she would keep an eye out for someone suitable for Dani and apparently this woman met the criteria. A blind date.It's been less than a month since Dani left Jamie. It's been more than a year since she left Edmund and her old life behind.This tells the tale of Jamie & Dani, how they meet, how they both came to be & what happened that two tortured souls find peace in one another.It's set in a modern AU, with Dani being a teacher and Jamie...well. Doing her own thing.They meet. They date. They break up. They hurt so fucking much. They fight. For each other.This is a mess. Enjoy.
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie, Hannah Grose & Owen Sharma, Hannah Grose/Owen Sharma, Rebecca Jessel/Peter Quint
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	1. Coming Up For Air

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction ever published. I hate my writing style, but I love Dani & Jamie and their characteristics.  
> I've always needed them to have a happy ending, but we all need to suffer and so do they. At least....in this piece.
> 
> This may hurt and there will be death, injuries, abuse and other things.  
> But they fought so intensely for their love & relationship...I had to write about it. In my own way.
> 
> This story is written in pieces made out through the story. It may be confusing at first, I am still trying to figure out the writing style here.
> 
> Thank you for reading & please tell me if it sucks. I'll stop, I promise!

It has been a while. Hannah said she would keep an eye out for someone suitable for Dani and apparently this woman met the criteria.  
Dani had not seen Jamie since the small “goodbye” at the front office at school, when Jamie left.  
The fact that the “suitable” woman chose this pub; the one Jamie drove her home from the first time they met in public, wasn’t doing her consciousness any good. 

The woman and Dani both sit down at a familiar table, the one once shared with Peter and Rebecca.  
A quick, careful glance around the pub lightens Dani’s mood. No Jamie. Not yet at least.  
It’s Friday evening, the pub would soon start to fill up. 

“So, school teacher, hm?” Of course, she starts with their jobs. “Yes.” Dani quickly compiles some information Hannah had given her earlier in her head. “Account Manager, right? Office job.” A remark, not a question. The other woman laughs. “We both sit on our asses all day, just that you entertain children and I entertain adults behaving like children.” That forces a genuine laugh out of Dani.

The conversation continues with a variety of topics, from American and English differences, to countries both would like to visit and finally their lives. Dani tries to share as little as she can.  
She does enjoy the company of said woman but she isn’t her. She isn’t Jamie. 

“Ah, well.” The woman looks around with the pub finally filling up. Plenty of people rushing to the bar as if it was a contest. “Looks like rush-hour. You wanna head out?” The woman’s gaze is stuck on Dani. She expects an answer.  
“If it’s okay with you, I’d rather stay just a little while.” Dani glances back, blue eyes meeting. “Sure thing, but I can not stay much longer, I’m afraid. Work.” The woman states. “You work Saturdays, too?” This comes as a genuine surprise.  
Dani couldn’t imagine managing people on Saturdays. What for.  
“Yes. As exhausting as it may be, I love my job. I get to deal with people’s problems all day and then boss them around. Couldn’t imagine anything else to be honest.” She lets out a small chuckle. She other woman takes a long sip of her glass, setting it down perfectly on the tab. Dani smiles into her words, breaking eye contact. She was about to speak up when she finds an all too familiar presence at the back of the pub, playing darts. Jamie. Not alone.  
“You okay there, love?” The other woman leans a little closer over the table, looking at Dani.  
“Ah, yes. Sorry, I thought I’d seen someone I know.” Dani’s eyes meet the other woman’s. She waves her hand. “Pubs, right. Thought this place was so far off from everythin’ we are used to, no one would recognize us here. Small world, huh.” She is right. Dani chuckles at the thought.  
“Yeah, just…small world.” She looks down at the table, her glass half full. 

“Well, I am gonna head out. You’ll be okay here by yourself? Shall I call you a cab?” The woman stands up, putting on her jacket.  
“Thank you, but I’ll be alright, I think.” Dani looks up at her. “It was nice.” A smile appears on the woman’s lips. “It really was.” She takes a pen from her blouse and scribbles something onto the tab below her empty glass.  
“In case you want to repeat this.” She winks at her. “Good night.” A small wave of guilt overcomes Dani. She feels like this entire night was about her, once again, not the other woman. Just like that conversation with Jamie. “Good night. I’ll call you!” And out the door she went. For fucks sake.  
Dani pushes the empty glass of the tab and swipes it closer to her. She can clearly make out the numbers and thinks back to when she had given her number to Jamie. “Sara.” That’s her name.  
Dani shakes her head. A small glance at her watch confirms her suspicious. It was late. The woman had stayed longer than she said she would. Good for Dani? 

She takes the tab and places it in her jacket pocket as she stands up. One last big sip of her glass and she puts it back down, a little too strongly, on the wooden table.  
She turns to the bar and pays for her and Sara’s beer. She turns to leave, her eyes locked on the door. She can still make out Jamie in her peripheral, turning to look back at her. Dani swallows hard, and heads out the pub. She gives herself a nice little pep talk on the way to the bus station. 

“Not armed and late at night in a city you don’t know. Perfect, Dani. You’re going to die.” And that is what she thinks until she sits down at the poorly lit bus stop.  
She can feel the coldness of the bench through her jeans. Skinny jeans blue, converse white and a pink pullover with a denim jacket. Not the best choice when it comes to warmth, but at least a good looking one. She presses her hands between her thighs and takes a look at her watch.  
“10 Minutes left. Great. I’ll freeze to death.” She says to no one but herself. 

Footsteps approach the bus stop. Dani doesn’t dare to look, she knows the wrong kind of glance can send you to the hospital, or grave, quite quickly. 

“So, it was you.” That voice. Dani turns, her eyes shoot open. “Jamie.” It’s not a question, it’s a statement. She’s there, leaning on the bus station’s metal frame. “That’s my name.” Dani turns back to look at the ground, her hands feeling a lot warmer already.  
“Can’t even look at me now? Not worth it?” Her tone is cold as the air around them. “That’s not…why are you here? You don’t have to take the bus home.” So very true. Why was she there?

“I want to know the truth. It’s been like what…a month maybe and you’re already out datin’? So, it was nothing to you? I was nothing to you.”  
Dani can feel Jamie’s gaze focused on her, the anger spitting out with every word she says. 

“What?” Dani turns to face Jamie, nothing but hate reflected in her eyes. “You heard me.” Jamie straightens up. Dani is surprised she has not used violence to beat the truth out of her yet. Maybe later.  
“No, I didn’t. A friend set me up. They know I am gay but not…about us. So, she wanted to help and set me up with this woman. And no, I did not choose to come here, Sara did.” Dani continues to hold Jamie’s intense eye contact and sighs.  
She seems to relax just a little bit. “But no. You were never nothing to me. I…” Dani looks down at the ground, knowing Jamie would comment on it so she shot it down before it even happened. “I know what I said hurt you. And I know I’ve said things I shouldn’t have said. But I was scared, okay?”  
She turns back to Jamie, fear in her voice.  
“Scared of losing all of this, scared of losing you. This is all new to me, I never…dated like this. I never had to justify what I did. I never had to justify who I loved. And I hated him, I fucking hated all of it…” Dani can feel her eyes becoming more and more watery and turns back to the cold ground. “But then there you were. And you just…you felt so right. Sometimes I couldn’t wait to see you, to hear your voice. When you’d come over I’d go over everything a hundred times to set boundaries even though I never wanted to.” Her voice trails off. 

A quick glance at her wrist, 2 Minutes left before the bus arrives. Dani sighs. “I was in your way. And you found that one thing that makes you happy and I made you feel like shit about it. I’m sorry, Jamie. I should have…I should have said it back then but it won’t matter now.” Dani can hear the bus before she can see it. Early. Way too early. 

Dani gets up as the bus door opens. She looks at Jamie one last time with a tired smile.  
“Have a good night.” Dani manages before she enters the bus, getting her wallet ready for a ticket.  
As she picks up foreign currency in her hands to hand it to the bus driver someone is behind her, holding the bus door open. She can see the annoyed face of the bus driver.

“Ay, we’re leaving. Either get on or out!” Dani turns. Jamie is holding the door open.  
“If you really mean what you said, come with me.” Dani shakes her head. She does not want to hurt Jamie again, give false hope of something that would never happen. She remembers Jamie’s look that day too well. She sees it before she goes to sleep. She sees it in old photos. She sees it whenever she closes her eyes and opens them to find herself alone. Without Jamie. 

“I’m sorry, Jamie…” The cold air enters the warmth of the bus. She turns and sits down at the very end, as far away from Jamie as she can. She doesn’t see Jamie’s face as she turns. Can’t.  
Jamie doesn’t get on. The bus moves and Dani can feel it in every fiber of her body. She’s shaking but certainly not from being cold. On the contrary, she feels rather hot like she’s burning up. It’s the guilt, she thinks. Should’ve grabbed a coat, she thinks. Shouldn’t have broken Jamie’s heart, she thinks.

The bus drive feels a lot longer than it should. Dani gets off a bus stop too early; she can’t sit in this moving pit of guilt. The fresh air will clean her head for sure. She just has to breath, in and out. 

How many times does she tell the children she teaches to breathe. How many times does she say it’s easy, it calms the body. Just in and out. Nothing inside Dani feels calm. Not her hands, not her lips, not her eyes, not her heart. She hates herself. 

__

She loves being with Jamie. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. The way she burns their breakfast, the way her accent becomes a complete puzzle to Dani sometimes, as if she’s speaking a foreign language, the way she fidgets her fingers when she’s nervous or unsure, the way she puts her hair in a messy bun when there’s something serious going on with her plants like she’s performing emergency surgery. She loves Jamie. 

“Oi, look who’s tryin’ to be sneaky.” Jamie tells the pasta that has clearly burned in the past 5 minutes as Dani tries to sneak past the open kitchen. “Definitely not me.” Dani’s head peaks around the wall, looking at Jamie with a suppressed smile. “The pasta on the other hand…” Her sentence trails off.  
Jamie drops the wooden spoon into the boiling water pot in defeat.  
“It’s a romantic gesture, ya know.” Dani has stepped fully into the kitchen now, leaning on the counter behind her, unaware that except for Jamie’s way too long T-shirt, she’s bare naked.  
“The burning or the cooking?” This grin Dani can’t suppress.  
Jamie turns sharply on her feet, determination on her face and Dani’s sure she’s a hundred percent ready for what’s coming.  
“The sacrifice.” Dani was not ready. 

__

“It’s not nothing, Eddie. This is who I am…how I feel…my entire life…I…I felt so wrong. I felt disgusting…not that you did…no, please understand that I-“ Something made out of glass hits the wall and disintegrates into a million pieces landing on the carpet of their home. Their carpet. Their something-made-out-of-glass that’s now broken. Broken like their relationship, broken like Eddie’s heart. And if Dani does not get out of here in the next few minutes, probably her arm, too. 

Eddie doesn’t speak. He’s looking at her, through her. Like he doesn’t see Dani. Or maybe he does, the shell of lies she has been telling for years.  
“You.” His voice breaks the atmosphere like a thunder after the storm has already passed.  
“You lied. For years…right to my face. You embarrassed me. You’re sick, Danielle. Fuck. You.” It’s sharp and slices her just like the knives in the kitchen would. The kitchen in their home. Stocked with their knives. 

Dani had given up on packing her clothes in secret last week. Made up another lie about how she was going on a school trip. Across the Ocean to England. To never return. Of course, except for her, no one knows the last detail.  
Her open suitcase is displayed on their bed. In their home. But it’s a bed Dani shared with hate, neglect and tears, when it was supposed to be shared with happiness, tenderness and love. 

She wonders what that is, love. With a million glass pieces next to her feet, she makes her first move.  
Heading straight for her open suitcase, she almost rips the zipper off, stuffing the last of her belongings, the last reminder of Danielle Clayton, into a bag. Eddie does not say anything. He does not move. His presence is enough to remind Dani of everything she has done. Everything she should feel guilty for, everything she should hate herself for.  
And she does. 

Less than a minute passes and Dani has successfully left their home. No. It is not her home anymore.  
But then again, it never has been, really.  
She hates herself as she throws her packed suitcase and bag into the back of the taxi.  
She hates herself as she tells the taxi driver to head to the airport.  
She hates herself as she hands her pre-booked ticket to the nice lady behind the counter at said airport.  
She hates herself as she boards a plane to England.  
She hates herself as she falls asleep on the plane, 4 hours in, thinking of nothing other than the look on Eddie’s face. Or Judy’s face. Or the call with her mother in the taxi.

She couldn’t face her. Couldn’t even face her own mother. Dani wonders if that’s strength or weakness.  
She hates herself.  
__


	2. Where'd You Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A larger snippet of Dani's trauma in the early stages of her friendship with Jamie.  
> And introduction to Owen; a scene where Dani leaves after she made THAT choice.
> 
> Why did she make that choice? It's gonna come up in Chapter 3.  
> Sorry.

Dani was an overachiever. In school, in college, fuck, even in Kindergarten. She always wanted to meet everyone’s expectations, always wanted everyone to be happy. For her? No. With her performance? Hell yes.  
Dani’s unsure what exactly pulls her into the gravity of Hannah Groose, but she cannot stop listening to the words that fall from her mouth so purely. 

It takes less than an hour for Hannah to show Dani around the new school building. It recently finished construction and still smells of fresh paint and newly sawn wood.  
Dani complements the old style that was chosen to match the original building out front and Hannah pauses whenever she does so. 

“While I do find this sort of architecture lovely, having grown up with it.” Hannah stops and turns to face Dani fully in the middle of a white painted hallway. “I find it quite sad. The children shall not feel like this is some sort of church, they may appreciate a more…modern setting.” Her hands clasp together and the metal of her rings echoes into silent walls. Dani is absolutely stunned. If she thought Rebecca and Owen were incredible souls, Hannah was her new favorite. By far.  
“It reminds me of back home…the structure and the doors. Most schools I taught at were pure cement blocks stacked on top of each other…you know…white and grey.” Dani chuckles to herself while moving her hand in a dismissive gesture like she does this on a regular basis.  
“But this…just…it’s beautiful.” She turns her head and looks around, staring too long at the ceiling at one point.  
She can feel Hannah’s presence closing in on her, a defensive mechanism triggering in her brain as her blue eyes shoot forward and Dani takes a small step back. It stops Eddie dead in his tracks.  
Dani blinks. It’s Hannah.

“I’m sorry, I did not mean to startle you.” Hannah arches her brow, but there is no underlying judgement in her tone. The warmth spreads under her blouse and Dani feels herself breathing more than she should in this freshly painted hallway. A quick glance behind Hannah’s head and back into her brown eyes brings Dani’s voice back to her mouth. 

“Oh no, I-I’m sorry…I…I just got distracted. By the…beautiful ceiling.” Dani puts on the best smile she can muster in this situation, having practiced it with Eddie more than enough times to seem genuine. The movement of Hannah’s head to the ceiling and back to Dani’s eyes confirms it. She can see right through her bullshit. “The beautiful ceiling painted…white?” A statement and a question. 

But Hannah smiles. Genuinely smiles at Dani. “It’s alright, Mrs. Clayton. We all have our own ghosts.” Her eyes are still connected to Dani’s but Dani finds no force, no intruder in them. “I do not need you to tell me why you moved to England. Or why you wear no ring despite having a fiancé in your CV. We are all our own people. But I am happy you are joining us.” Her hands find themselves again, the ring emitting the same metal tone it did earlier. 

“Thank you, Mrs. Groose. But you can call me Dani…if you’d like. And…thank you. Someday maybe.”  
Dani moves her eyes to the marble floor.  
She expects this to go the same way it always does. A date will be set, she will be interrogated, slaughtered for information and then left an empty shell of who she once was. People tear at her, want a look deep inside the beautiful, independent, lonely Mrs. Danielle Clayton.  
Dani is sure she has nothing left to give at this point. 

The gentle squeeze of a hand on her shoulder reconnects Dani’s eyes with brown ones.  
“You’ll feel right at home in no time, dear.” Another squeeze before Hannah’s hand disappears back next to her own body. “Oh, and it’s Hannah, only Hannah. We can revisit those formalities when people actually mind.” She scuffs. Only Hannah just made Dani’s day one of the best since she arrived in England. Here, Dani does not have to put on a performance. Here, she can just be Dani.

Dani’s lips reveal her teeth, a pure smile lights up her face. “Thank you, Hannah. I can’t wait to be home.” 

__

Home, where Jamie’s plants were living their best life. Where Dani’s teaching and children’s books overflowed the wooden bookshelf found in an antique store and dragged back to Jamie’s apartment the same day. Where the kitchen either smelled of Dani’s lasagna or Jamie’s burned whatever-she-was-trying-to-make.  
Home was where Jamie was. Where she fell asleep knowing she wouldn’t be cold no matter how many times the heater broke because Jamie’s body generated more heat than any other she knew.  
Or maybe Dani was just cold. Cold after years of pretending to be someone she never was.  
Snuggling into Jamie, naked or clothed, was the best part of her day. And she promised herself she would never want anything else. Never strive from home. Never strive alone. 

Never. Leave. Her. 

__

With varsity volleyball for a bunch of years Dani’s heartrate has never excelled like it has today.  
As soon as she leaves the apartment, it’s different. She has made up her mind. It’s love versus logic in her head, drowning vs. breathing, heart versus brain, right versus wrong.  
She holds the door from slamming shut and stands on their Welcome mat in the hall. Her back is turned to the apartment door, just a slight creek allowing Jamie’s smell to escape.  
Dani breathes it in, completely absorbs it, like it’s the last breath she will ever take. And in a sense, it is.

She knows Jamie will break down walls, smash her own hands into bricks to keep her soul from shattering. Jamie takes broken and bruised knuckles over a broken heart. Jamie would break noses and come home with cuts over that life altering pain any day. She would break her own body to keep Dani from breaking.

They talked about this for weeks. First Dani tried to hide it, like she has hidden her true self for over 20 years. But Jamie is fluent in Dani and easily picks up when she suddenly zones out a lot more during their conversations, barely looking at Jamie. Just a small “S-Sorry, I got distracted.” 

Every time. Jamie would let it slide; Dani remembers. Just a tilt of her head, “You alright?” in the most worrying tone Dani ever heard Jamie speak, her eyes saying more than those words ever could.  
Dani understands the hidden meaning in those green-grey orbs. What’s wrong? Did something happen? Talk to me. I’m here for you. We’re in this together. 

Dani never talks to Jamie about it.  
__

It’s the first word spoken between them. “American.”  
So insignificant, yet this single word will ring in Dani’s head for the next years, unbeknownst to her.  
Dani thinks this is how it’s going to go. No _hello_ to greet her, just everyone pointing out that she is in fact from America.  
“Yes, American.” Dani sighs sitting on an old, wooden bar stool, turned to the door, scanning the room for people she doesn’t know, watching Rebecca leave.  
“S’ not a valid drink, mate.” The words register in Dani’s head far too late. The heat in her cheeks is rising as she turns her wonderfully redden face to the bartender. Her arms are spread on each side of her body, slightly leaning onto the counter to support her weight. There’s the stereotypical cloth over her shoulder, she’s wearing a brown flannel and what seems to be leather suspenders over her wide shoulders.  
Dani’s eyes scan upward, awkwardly, not even trying to hide her blush as she meets the bartender’s gaze. 

This is Dani. Not Danielle, she reminds herself. Dani doesn’t shy away. Dani’s strong.  
There’s a smirk appearing on her lips just now, and the last thing Dani feels is strong. She feels weak, as she may collapse any second and the bartender is going to jump over the bar in a completely smooth and absolutely not rehearsed motion, trying to catch her falling body.

“You alright?” The accent hits her ears again. Dani’s back. “Yes! S-Sorry, I was distracted for a second.” By you, she doesn’t say.  
“’S fine. What’d you like to drink, then?” The bartender still has not moved since Dani had her internal breakdown. “Whiskey, neat.” It’s clear as day when Dani speaks it but she can not remind herself why she did. She hates Whiskey. And everyone will be a witness to that soon enough.

A glass filled with liquid is harshly placed right in front of her, yet nothing spills, except for Dani’s will to live. “Here you go.” It’s quick. “Thank you.” Dani’s even quicker.

Dani steadily takes the glass in her hand and whips the liquid in it back and forth. It’s funny, in a way. She escaped years of hatred, abuse, pain and regret to sit in a bar filled with joy, drunks and happiness. Yet it feels the same to her. Like she’s suffocating.  
And she hasn’t even touched her drink.

It’s a habit, she thinks. As soon as she is alone, her mind goes on autopilot. All the reasons she should be alone, all the reasons she deserved it, all the reasons she should feel guilty; fill her head. And so, she does. She feels guilty. And broken. Lost.  
Glass smashes against a wall. 

Dani’s back in her bedroom, Eddie staring her down, her suitcase packed but open to the world. Million pieces of glass at her feet, she starts to set things in motion. But she can’t. She’s stuck. Her hands don’t listen to her brain and neither do her legs, it’s like she’s glued to the wall with the familiar wallpaper. Eddie’s eyes are hollow, she can barely make out his face, consumed with darkness and anger. He’s shifting towards her, very slowly, like a predator approaching his prey.

She’s on the bed. The wall nowhere in sight. The familiar wallpaper gone. She still can’t move.  
The heat beneath her clothes increases until Dani screams in pain, it burns her skin and soul, she feels as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest and set on fire for her to watch.  
Her eyes close.  
She screams and screams but Eddie doesn’t stop. He never stopped.

When her eyes reopen, she’s in a bar. Her glass filled with whiskey stilled, just like her heart.  
There’s a commotion going on behind her, the bartender jumping over chairs and between people to stop it. The fight gets broken up and people return to whatever they were doing. It’s calm. As calm as a bar can get.  
Dani’s the opposite of calm. The only thing she can hear is her heartbeat.  
She watches the bartender carefully picking up the pieces and cleaning up. She throws the glass into the bin and smoothly throws the dustpan beneath the bar.  
Dani’s eyes find the spot where the glass broke a moment ago. She’s starring as if she can make the glass reappear. No cracks visible to the outside world.

“Whiskey that bad?” Once again, Dani’s body shoots around in the old, wooden barstool, no calming down in sight, as her blue eyes meet green ones. And fuck. They’re gorgeous. As is the woman they belong to. Dani clears her throat like an amateur. 

“No, no. I was just-“  
That smirk again.  
“Distracted?” The bartender finishes for Dani. “Distracted.” She answers. The hot gaze of the bartender does not leave Dani’s face. She shugs the Whiskey down in one go, her heartrate not settled down enough and her brain still in overload mode to make a face as the alcohol burns down her throat. Burns away at the nightmares still lingering in the back of her head. She hates whiskey.

“That distracted, huh?”  
“A glass broke. “  
__

Dani only goes to one bar and one bar only. The one Jamie works at. Dani herself is still not sure what pulls her to Jamie so incredibly much, but it is definitely not her alcohol skills or absolutely stunning looks, green eyes that take her breath away or simple her charming personality. Dani couldn’t say. 

When she enters the bar on a Friday evening, with zero expectations other than enjoying a whiskey and watching Jamie mix drinks, break up random fights or take a break to beat people at darts, she’s utterly disappointed to find someone else behind the counter.  
A young man, his hair a little out of order as if his mother just ruffled it just before he came out here. He rocks a fine and carefully trimmed mustache on his lips and offers the sweetest of smiles.  
Like Eddie used to. Like Eddie used to smile when he saw Dani, no Danielle, laugh. The smile he gave only to her, ever, even when she could never do it for him. The smile he worse so proudly and she regretted ever seeing. The smile that haunts her nights. The smile that broke her smile.

“What can I do for you?” There’s so much comfort in his voice Dani instantly breaks out into a genuine smile as she takes place on her wooden barstool. 

__

“Look, I’m tellin’ ya, either he’s try’n rob you and I’ll rob him instead or…” Jamie slides her arm around Dani’s waist carefully. “…he hits on you and I break his face. Simple as that, Dani.” She feels a warmth on her waist and slowly leans into it. Dani pulls together every piece of strength she possesses to not look into Jamie’s mesmerizing green eyes, which are currently waiting to look into her blue ones.  
“Or…” Dani offers, her mouth muscles spasm from holding back her laugh for the past 10 minutes. “You could just not do any of that and the first aid kit at the bar gets some rest, too.”  
“Well, let’s see which one it is first, shall we.” Jamie challenges back.

A younger gentleman makes his way over to where Dani and Jamie are seated, again.  
This marks the fifth guy trying to hit on Dani, ask if she wants to go home with him or simply presses himself into the booth opposite of her. She declined them all politely. The last guy did not take that too well.

Jamie, who has apparently made it a rule not to drink at the bar she works at, spotted Dani and her silent cries for help early on. Surprisingly, Dani had not spotted Jamie and just sat & drank by herself while dismissing guy after guy. 

“This seat taken?” Dani cannot stop the roll of her eyes. Since Jamie slit into the space next to her, her mood picked up immensely. Yet, with each passing and dismissing of a random guy, she feels guilty. She should appreciate them. Should appreciate their offerings, their charm.  
She hates herself.  
She herself for not accepting the flirting.  
She hates herself for being so selfish.  
She hates herself for dressing the way she did to impress a woman and not a man.  
She hates hers-

A slight squeeze on her waist. Cautious, careful. Perfect. 

“Afraid the seat’s taken, mate.” Jamie answers for her. She doesn’t spit the words but Dani can hear fury in them. Why would she be angry? For Dani?  
But his presence lingers. Dani looks up at him. “Sorry, waiting on someone.” Dani has perfected her lying to men. She got to train it with Edmund for far too long, it slips off her tongue in one motion.  
When he man finally retreats with insults falling from his mouth, Dani’s gaze drills holes into the wooden table. She is not up for confrontation. Unlike Jamie.

“Fucking twat.” It’s not silent, exactly, but not a shout either. Loud enough for him to hear but not attract attention. Jamie has done this before, plenty of times, Dani recognizes.  
The guy does not turn around. But Jamie’s head does, directly into Dani’s profile.

“You alright there? I meant what I said, ya know. I’ll break his nose if you want.” Jamie’s voice is calm, so calm. Dani closes her eyes remembering it. Embracing it.  
The hand on her waist retreats and gets thrown over Dani’s shoulder, but not touching her.  
There’s hesitation. Her eyes open back up.

“I am not being too forward, am I? Just hope that maybe this way they will leave you alone.” The booth squeaks as Jamie leans back in it. “Unless; please don’t tell me you’re lookin’ for love in this shithole?” Dani lets out a genuine laugh. Somehow, with Jamie by her side, it seems possible.

Living across the ocean from her old life, her old misery. She feels like she can let go, cut the baggage line from her shoulders. Start again, live free as Dani. Not Danielle.

“I was actually looking for a good drink, but the bartender didn’t get into fights with random strangers and was suspiciously bad with puns. It just wasn’t the same, you know. So…I came here instead.” Dani’s try to be mysterious and flirtatious at the same time may have sounded better in her head. A mental slap is all she manages before Jamie’s smirk grows even wider and breaks into a smile. Dani would love to see more of it. A lot more. 

“Mhm. So, you just found this place. Randomly. The suspiciously bad pun bartender had nothin’ to do with you comin’ ‘ere then?” Jamie is playing a game and Dani wants to score.  
One time have fun and not be judged. There is no Eddie here, no Judy, no Karen. Just Dani with her regrets.  
Because she left Eddie. Because she is at fault here. She caused him pain and she walked free. 

Dani shakes her head. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude or anything. It’s just…you’re the reason I go to that bar as often as I do. I enjoy your company. I’m still trying to get used to living here and it’s not that easy meeting new people.” Dani manages. Another mental slap, she’s way too forward. She’s never been this forward. 

Somehow, she requires whiskey to get through this conversation, she thinks. She shugs the rest of her glass down her throat and makes a pained face. Well done, Clayton.

“That so? And ‘ere I thought Owen would whisk you away with his incredibly bad puns and taste for whiskey.” Dani takes a mental note of the man’s name to be more polite next time she sees him.  
“He’s a really sweet guy, but just not my forte.” One of her hands makes a dismissive gesture.  
“Like basically anyone ‘ere.” Jamie counters. 

She’s good at this, Dani thinks.

“Not quite.” Dani can play this game, she’s sure. She can just spit out her thoughts and flirt and be alright. She’ll be okay.  
“’s much as I’d love to ‘ear about it, and believe me, I do; got an early shift tomorrow. Maybe you can swing by and tell me all about it then? Or maybe after?” Jamie’s arm swings over Dani’s head, forgotten on her shoulders, as she stands up. Her eyes never leaving Dani’s.

There’s something here, Dani thinks. Hope? Is this what happiness feels like? Is this how you are supposed to flirt? Is it this comfortable? 

“Sure. I’ll be there.” Dani smile has never been this wide, it physically hurts.  
“See ya then, Dani.” With a wink and a lick across her lips, which Dani only witnesses in slow motion, Jamie exits the bar.  
With her, Dani’s confidence. 

She is no longer leaned back as her peripheral catches onto movement. She is no longer relaxed as the same guy from before approaches her. Her shoulders stiffen as he throws himself in the booth next to her, where Jamie sat just a few seconds ago. Her eyes shut tightly as she inhales the stink of alcohol and cigarettes mixed with cheap perfume. 

“Guess the seat’s no longer taken, hm.” His face is close, too close for Dani to breath.  
“Please leave, I am not interested.” Her voice is cracking, it sounds broken, rehearsed. As it had when she was with Eddie. No. When she was Eddie’s. 

“What’s wrong, hm? I know your friend was just a decoy to get my attention. See if I’d come back to ya.” How he comes to this conclusion, Dani doesn’t comprehend. She doesn’t understand. She feels like she never has. 

How did Jamie saving her and making her laugh with barely 4 sentences turn into this? It was Dani’s fault. She shouldn’t have worn this outfit. Shouldn’t have sought Jamie out in another bar she was unfamiliar with. No Owen behind the counter. No Jamie in the crowds. No one but Dani in this hellhole.

Dani can’t breathe. She sees Eddie in him. She sees the want, the domination, the drunken state. She sees Danielle.  
She wants to surrender, be the ‘good girl’.  
A part of her fights. A part of her wants to tell Rebecca about how she fought off a guy in a bar.  
A part of her wants to tell Jamie tomorrow. A part of her wants to be proud. A part of her wants to be brave. A part of her wants to break his nose.

In and out. She goes over it in her head, over and over. Breathing in and out. In and out.  
The man has been talking but Dani doesn't catch a word he said.  
He notices, grabs her wrist as she stands. 

“Let me go or else.” Her tone is sharp. A threat. It’s quiet enough to not gain attention, but her point is crystal clear.  
“Calm down, blondie.” He puts his hands up in a defensive form, weak, strong. It’s all the same to her. But he still doesn’t let her move past him. 

“And let me leave.” She holds her gaze, no longer drilling holes in the table, but in his face. She’s furious, angry, so fucking angry. Why her. Why is it always her?  
When she thinks she can’t be broken again, another piece snaps. Soon, there’ll be nothing left to break. What happens then?

As if on cue, the guy stands, moves slowly backwards, waiting. Lingering. Like an animal, starring Dani up and down; observing. She knows she doesn’t have many pieces left. She has been broken repeatedly but she is still here, she is still standing.

She grabs her denim jacket, power walks through what feels like endless crowds of people to the counter, pays her tab, thanks the bartender and sprints for the exit.  
Every step to the door, every time her foot connects with the wooden floor, her heart beats faster.  
Every breath held; every tear shed. Her heart beats faster.

The outside air cools her face. It’s fresh. A fresh start.  
Moving on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this mess.  
> I do not know what happened. I do not know how to explain it.
> 
> I promised some fluff and shit, but I need to get over some trauma first, I AM SORRY.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to anyone who made it through until the end and didn't vomit, fall asleep or just straight up canceled reading.  
> Please let me know what you think! I live by that shit.


End file.
